Cigarette lighters commonly include a capillary action-dependent wick having a lower end immersed in a fuel and a rotatably mounted flint, disposed in closely spaced relation to the wick, that produces a spark when rotated against a fixed position abrasive member. These lighters have a number of well-known disadvantages relating to the need to maintain fuel therein, the inefficiency of the flint-based spark-producing means, and the like. Moreover, the lighters can be used to start fires, whether intentionally or not.
Additional drawbacks of such conventional lighters are equally well known. For example, the lighter fluid has an unpleasant smell. Moreover, the lighters are heavy and not inexpensive.
Many inventors have developed improvements to the common lighter. Chuange, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,704, discloses a battery operated cigarette lighter that provides current that heats a heating element that is positioned within a housing. That device is believed to be the most pertinent of the earlier patents; however, it is believed to be too heavy, large, and expensive to find acceptance in the marketplace.
Additional U.S. patents of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,030,011, 2,528,619, 2,991,875, and 4,621,649.
Although the art of cigarette lighters is well-developed, there remains a need for a lighter that cannot be used to start intentional or unintentional fires. There is also a need for a very inexpensive and light in weight lighter which is also wind proof and damp proof.
The prior art, however, when considered as a whole in accordance with the requirements of law at the time the present invention was made, neither taught nor suggested to those of ordinary skill in this art how an improved lighter could be provided.